


Decades of Love

by hybryd0



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Kidfic, M/M, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 15:33:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4840808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hybryd0/pseuds/hybryd0
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>five moments Niall and Liam shared with their kids and one that was just the two of them</p>
            </blockquote>





	Decades of Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [liyumpeyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liyumpeyn/gifts).



> Thank you to Jarka for being a source of encouragement and Aimee for britpicking/betaing this. 
> 
> Prompt: Niall/Liam- With two children, a steady income and a great house, Nial and Liams lives are going swell (really just a hugely domestic husband!niam fic but please include a lot of fluff and some smut if you feel like it! Could also be a songfic on 6 Words by Wretch 32, but please have Liam madly in love with Niall!)

1)

The sun is just starting to lighten the sky when Liam wakes up. He’s usually an early riser, but even this is early for him. It’s necessary though if he’s going to accomplish his mission for the day.

He pulls on his jogging gear and heads out for his usual morning run. It’s a little bit nippy without the warmth of the sun, but it doesn’t take long for his body temperature to rise as he follows his regular path through the neighborhood. It’s so quiet and tranquil so early in the morning as if he’s the first person in the whole world to be up.

By the time he gets back to the house he’s feeling pumped and ready for the day ahead. It’s quiet and still in the house, the rest of the inhabitants still sleeping. He makes his way back up to the master bedroom where Niall has starfished himself across the bed, a soft squeak of a snore escaping him every couple of seconds (Niall will swear up and down that he doesn’t snore).

Liam smiles softly to himself, but doesn’t go over to his husband, too afraid of accidentally waking him before it’s time. Instead he quietly gathers up his comfy, just-hanging-around-the-house clothes and heads in to take a quick shower and wash away the morning workout. He’s careful not to get his wings wet so he doesn’t have to worry about drying them.

Once he’s dried off, dressed, and brushed his teeth, Liam sneaks out of the bedroom and down the hall to Christopher’s room. He stops in the doorway, heart warming at the sight of his sleeping son and the fact that all he can see of him is the soft, white baby plumage of one wing over his face. He almost doesn’t want to wake him up, except he knows that Chris has been looking forward to this morning and would be very cross with him if he misses it.

Careful of the toy trucks and action figures strewn across the floor, Liam makes his way over to sit on the edge of Chris’s bed. He brushes his fingers across the soft feathers, smiling as the wing twitches and one sleepy brown eye peeks out at him.

“Hey Sunshine,” Liam says softly, “still want to help me fix breakfast for your da?”

Chris nods sleepily and lifts his wing away to rub at his eyes, yawning so wide he seems to surprise himself with it. “Is Aly up?”

“Nope, woke you first,” Liam replies. “Go brush your teeth while I wake her up, okay?”

“Okay, dad.”

Liam smiles and reaches out to ruffle Chris’s hair before he stands up and leaves the room to wake up his stepdaughter (he considers her his though and may have had to hide tears the first time she called him dad). Her room is much neater, a tidiness she gets from Niall no doubt. She’s a restless sleeper and has kicked all her blankets off in the night, but has curled into a small ball in the middle of the bed with head and feet facing the opposite directions of what they’re supposed to.

“Aly, it’s time to get up.”

Aly grunts unhappily in her sleep and curls further away from him. He huffs out an amused chuckle and runs a hand down her back between her wings.

“C’mon darling, don’t you want to help fix your da breakfast in bed?” Liam coaxes gently.

She makes another disgruntled noise, but starts to stir. It takes her a few minutes of grumbling adorably before she finally rolls over to face him. She blinks sleepily, a grumpy frown on her face.

“Good morning sleepyhead,” Liam teases.

“S’too early to be good,” Aly grumbles.

Liam laughs softly. “So much like your da.” He stands up and starts to head for the door. “If you want to go back to sleep you can, but your brother and I are going to start cooking without you.”

That’ll be enough to get her moving.

Liam heads downstairs where Chris is already sitting at the island in the kitchen. He’s humming something or other to himself and fluttering his wings along to music only he can hear. The seven year-old has picked up a love for music from growing up being in the studio with Liam.

“What should we make your da for breakfast?” Liam asks as he walks to the fridge, opening it up to peak inside. Niall is really the cook in the house and he keeps everything well stocked.

“American pancakes!” Chris exclaims, bouncing on the stool.

“What about eggs?”

“Yeah! Da likes them with runny yolks.”

Liam chuckles a little as he pulls out the eggs. “Your da will have to settle for scrambled eggs.”

‘And bacon!”

“Definitely can’t forget the bacon,” Liam agrees as he continues to pull items out and set them on the counter.

“Morning Aly.”

Liam glances over his shoulder to see Aly shuffling her way into the kitchen. She still looks adorably rumpled and sleepy, but some of the grumpiness is gone from her expression. She mumbles a quiet good morning back to Chris as she takes a seat beside him at the island.

“We’re doing pancakes, eggs, and bacon for your da, how’s that sound?” Liam asks.

“Toast too,” Aly says.

“See, where would we be without you?”

“Without toast,” Chris puts in with a giggle.

They start with the eggs and Liam lets them each break an egg into the bowl. Chris has to try a second time after his first egg goes on the floor.

By the time they finish fixing breakfast they’ve burned three pieces of toast, there’s a pancake that was flipped and never came back, and there’s pancake batter in Aly’s feathers, but they’ve got a fairly presentable breakfast and they had fun doing it.

Liam plates everything up and puts it on a tray along with a glass of orange juice and a cup of tea fixed just the way Niall likes it. Both kids beg to carry the tray, but he’s too afraid of an accident happening to let them. Instead he sends them ahead to wake Niall up, grinning to himself as he hears the mix of delighted shouts and squawks of protest.

When Liam makes it up there stairs with the tray, Niall has Chris in a headlock and is giving him a noogie while Aly is climbing on his back trying to help Chris. They’re all laughing and it’s so infectious Liam can’t help but join them. Chris must hear him because he reaches his arms out towards Liam.

“Dad, help!,” Chris pleads.

Liam chuckles. “What d’ya say, da, think he’s had enough?”

Niall looks up at him then, cheeks flushed from exertion and laughter, and Liam watches his gaze immediately zoom in on the tray of food. “No, but I’ll call a truce for what you’ve got there.”

“Deal.”

Niall immediately releases Chris, who scampers away across the bed, and Aly immediately follows. Liam brings the tray over and hands it to Niall. Niall takes it and sets in on the bed in front of him and then grabs Liam by the front of the shirt and pulls him down for a quick kiss.

“Thank you, love, this smells wonderful.”

“Just hope it tastes as good as it smells,” Liam says. Niall is by far the better cook, but he’s taught Liam some things over the years.

“Dad, can we eat now?” Chris pipes up from where he and Aly are preening each other’s wings.

“Better feed the monsters, dad,” Niall says before taking his first bite of pancake.

Liam laughs as the two fledglings protest being called monsters and then ushers them out of the room, telling them to go sit and wait for him. As they scamper out of the room, Liam turns back to Niall.

“Happy birthday, babe.”

 

2)

Liam bites his lip in concentration as he takes aim at the wall of balloons in front of him. Logically he knows these games are all rigged to make the player lose so they’ll keep spending money, but there’s a stuffed wolf that Aly really wants and Liam is determined to win it for her. No one has to know how much money he’s spent trying to win it since he’d had Niall take the kids to go on a couple of rides while he said he was going to get in line for the cotton candy.

It wasn’t exactly a lie, he does plan on getting them some cotton candy too--right after he wins this stupid wolf.

He takes aim, holds his breath, and throws the dart. It hits right to the side of his target. Letting out a frustrated breath he drops his head.

“Do you want to try again, sir?” asks the bored looking teenager who is running the booth.

Liam fishes out enough money to pay for another round and takes the darts the teen hands him. Now it’s not just about winning the stuffed wolf; it’s also about his pride and how much he hates to lose.

He takes aim and throws the first dart (more like the tenth, but he’s trying not to count). It misses by half an inch.

He throws the next dart and watches in disbelief as it hits the balloon...and bounces off.

“That’s not fair, I hit it,” Liam says to the teen.

The teen shrugs his shoulders. “You have to pop it to win.”

Liam frowns, but turns his attention back to the balloons and his last dart. He takes careful aim and throws as hard as he dare without affecting his aim. The dart hits the balloon and this time it gives way with a satisfying popping sound. He throws his arms up in a cheer and turns to the bored teenager.

“Congratulations, sir. What would you like?” the teen asks.

“I want that one,” he says, pointing to the wolf.

The boy hands him his prize and Liam heads off to buy them all some candy floss, head held high as if he’s just accomplished a major victory. He knows all the money he spent will be worth the look on Aly’s face.

Once he has the treats he heads toward the funhouse where he’s supposed to meet up with them. When he gets there Niall is standing outside, but the kids are nowhere to be seen. As he gets closer he realizes that someone else is with Niall, someone he would recognize anywhere.

“Tommo!” He calls as he approaches.

Niall and Louis both look towards him. Niall’s eyes fall immediately to the stuffed wolf and his eyes go all soft and warm. 

“Where’s Zayn?” Liam asks as he hands two of the candy floss to Niall to hold.

“Went in with the kids. You didn’t think I’d let them go in there alone, did you?” Niall teases. “I hope you plan on getting Chris something, you know he’ll be jealous of Aly getting that.”

“Figured I’d buy him that little puppet thing he liked,” Liam replies. He hums softly as Niall strokes his fingers through his feathers like a reward. 

“We let the twins get their faces painted,” Louis says. “Drew looks like a tiger and Julie is a panda.”

Before Liam can respond to that he sees Zayn approaching with the gaggle of fledglings. He quickly hides the stuffed wolf behind his back before Aly can see it; she’s too busy talking with Julie, her little white wings fluttering with excitement. He’s so glad that all of their kids have been able to grow up together, never having to worry about being alone or not having any friends. He’s so glad he went to that support group for single fathers all those years ago.

“Aly, c’mere darling,” Liam calls.

Aly perks up and comes closer, her conversation with Julie apparently forgotten. She spies the candy floss first, but before she can get excited about that Liam pulls the stuffed wolf from behind his back.

The look of joy on her face is indeed priceless.

They spend the rest of the night going from kids ride to kids ride since none of their fledglings are big enough to ride the more thrill-seeking rides. Liam buys the puppet thing that Chris wanted and they all genuinely have a great time. Liam is rarely happier than when he’s spending time with his family and friends.

Towards the end of the night Louis and Zayn take the kids to play some of the carnival games while Liam and Niall queue up for the ferris wheel. It’s a tradition of theirs to always go on the ferris wheel whenever there is one. The first time Liam kissed Niall was on a ferris wheel much like this one.

That’s why it’s natural for them to slide closer together when they reach the highest point and the ferris wheel pauses. Liam cups Niall’s cheek, brushing his thumb across the soft stubble and leans in.

They brush their lips together softly at first, just a tease, but then Niall surges forward, deepening the kiss. Liam opens up to it, sliding his tongue along Niall’s and moving his hand back to tangle his fingers in the softness of Niall’s hair. In response, Niall cards his fingers through Liam’s feathers, finding the spots that make him shiver with ease.

“I love you,” Liam whispers when they’ve pulled apart. He leans his forehead against Niall’s and smiles softly at him.

“I love you too.”

They’re still flushed when they get back down to the ground and go to meet up with Louis and Zayn. It’s easy to see the fledglings are losing their sugar induced energy, their wings sagging with exhaustion. They decide to call it a night then and head for the exit.

Aly and Chris are out like lights by the time they get home. Chris doesn’t even so much as twitch when Liam picks him up; Aly stirs a bit when Niall lifts her, but she just curls into his chest and goes back to sleep. 

It’s the perfect end to the perfect day.

 

3)

It’s Liam who gets the call from the school and has to leave work, because Niall is in Ireland for his mum’s birthday. He tells the lads he’s working with that he has to leave but to keep working without him.

It’s the first call like this he’s ever gotten and he doesn’t know quite what to think. The whole drive to the school is spent going between angry and worried. He’s settled into angry by the time he’s led into the headmaster’s office.

Aly and Chris both look up at him from where they’re sitting. Chris looks scared and more than a little rumpled, while Aly has such a look of defiance on her face that Liam is almost taken aback.

“Mr. Payne, I’m terribly sorry to bother you at work, but this simply couldn’t wait,” the Headmaster says as Liam steps the rest of the way into the office to sit down.

It’s then that he sees there’s other people in the room; a boy who looks a little older than Aly and like he came out of the wrong end of a fight, and a woman who is probably his mother. He sees her give his wings a distasteful look and instantly knows this isn’t going to be a pleasant meeting at all. He looks back at the Headmaster, trying his best to relax so that his feathers don’t fluff up.

“Mr. Payne, I called you here because your daughter attacked another student,” the Headmaster says.

Liam glances quickly at Aly, noting how puffed up her feathers are, how angry she still looks. “She wouldn’t attack anyone without reason.”

“There’s never an excuse for violence,” the Headmaster says with an air of disapproval.

Liam looks back at the man across the desk from him. “Do you know what happened?”

“The little monster attacked my son, what more do you need to know?” the woman nearly snarls.

“I’ve found that the ones calling others monsters are usually the real monsters,” Liam replies through clenched teeth. That there are people who are still prejudiced towards seraphs ruffles his feathers and the idea that his children are the target of it makes it even worse.

“He pulled out some of Chris’s feathers and pushed him down. He said seraphs should be back in collars and that his parents say humans that mate with seraphs are disgusting,” Aly says, her voice shaking with fury.

“She’s lying!” the boy shouts.

“No I’m not, you can see where he pulled the feathers out!”

Liam gets up and walks over to Chris and kneels down beside him. “Can I see, sunshine?”

Chris nods and unfolds his left wing and Liam can immediately see where a good number of feathers are missing. He also notices the way his son’s wing is trembling and he brushes his fingers soothingly through Chris’s feathers.

“Did that boy say those things?” Liam asks, using a hand under Chris’s chin to get his son to look at him. Chris’s eyes dart towards the boy sitting across the room. “Hey, don’t worry about him, love. Tell me the truth.”

“Yeah. Aly was protecting me,” Chris says softly.

“That doesn’t excuse--.”

“Don’t say my kids don’t have a right to defend themselves,” Liam snaps, glaring at the headmaster. “Should she have used violence, probably not, but I’m not going to punish her for defending her brother from a bully.”

“Well, you may not believe in discipling your children, but--.”

“You can save whatever you’re about to say. I’m not going to leave my children in a school where the bullies get away with assaulting my kids,” Liam goes on, standing up and facing the headmaster. “And I’m going to advise all my friends pull their kids from this school and make sure all the seraphs know that this isn’t a safe place for their kids.”

“Now Mr. Payne, there’s no reason to do that,” the headmaster says, his tone changing completely.

“You’re obviously not a parent if you think I should leave my fledglings in a place where they’re discriminated against and not protected,” Liam says fiercely.

“Fledglings.” The woman spits the word out like it’s left a bad taste in her mouth.

“And you,” Liam says as he swings around to face her. “the only people who shouldn’t be mating are people like you.”

“I beg your--.”

“Enough,” Liam cuts her off, wings trembling with anger. “We’re done.”

Liam ushers Aly and Chris out of the office and straight out of the building. It’s not until they’re in the car that Liam is able to relax.

“Am I in trouble?” Aly asks, sounding worried for the first time.

Liam sighs and scrubs a hand over his face. “You probably should be, but you were protecting your brother and I can’t fault you that.”

“Does this mean no more school?” Chris asks hopefully.

“No, just no more school there,” Liam says. “i’ll talk with your da and we’ll decide between a different school or homeschooling.”

“Da is gonna be mad.”

Liam sighs. He’s not looking forward to giving Niall bad news when he gets home. “Yeah, yeah he is.”

 

4)

The week of Aly’s thirteenth birthday, Liam and Niall herd her and Chris to the car. They don’t tell them where they’re going, which Liam knows will drive Chris crazy. His son isn’t that big on surprises, but the surprise isn’t really for him anyway.

As they pull up in front of the shelter, both kids start squealing and bouncing in excitement. Liam shares a fond look with Niall. They’d talked about it at great length and decided a few weeks ago that having a pet would be a good way for Aly to start learning some responsibility, with their help of course.

“Is this really happening?” Aly asks in wonder.

“We thought about just surprising you, but your da thought it’d be a little more special if you got to pick for yourself,” Liam says.

They can hear the dogs barking before they even get out of the car. There’s cages outside with dogs of all kinds, shapes, and sizes. There’s barking coming from inside as well.

“Stay together,” Niall calls as the two children rush into the building. By the time Liam and Niall make it inside Aly and Chris are cooing at the cats that are in cages in the first room.

“Hello!” A perky teenage girl chirps from behind the front counter. “Let me know if you need any help.”

The children seem to tire of the cats after a few moments and head through a door leading to some kennels where dogs are barking excitedly from every direction. The kids don’t seem to know where to start, running from cage to cage, laughing and squealing. Liam finds himself focusing more on the children than the dogs trying to get his attention from every angle.

Liam startles a little when there’s a touch to his hand, but relaxes when he realizes it’s just Niall linking their fingers together. They share a smile and follow their kids around as they go from cage to cage. There’s a few dogs that aren’t as friendly, possibly because of their wings, but the children don’t seem to let it dim their excitement and just move on to the next kennel.

“They’d take them all if they could,” Niall says, watching fondly as Aly lets a friendly mutt of some kind lick her hand.

“I’d take them all if I could,” Liam replies. They both have to speak a little louder to be heard over all the barking.

Eventually they make it through the inside kennels and head outside to see the dogs out there. They walk the aisles, the kids insisting they need to see every single dog so they can make sure they pick the best one. It’s logical of course, but it means they spend close to an hour walking around.

And then Aly bends down to pet a dog that’s just calmly leaning against the fence and Liam can see the moment she falls in love. The dog looks like a golden retriever, but is more of a blond color instead with these big, soft amber colored eyes. The dog just continues to lean calmly against the fence as Chris leans down to pet it as well.

Niall steps forward to look at the information for the dog and reads it out loud. “They’re calling her Sunny and she’s a three month old golden retriever and chow mix.”

As Niall’s talking a dog that had been sleeping in a shaded area towards the back of the kennel wakes up and spots them. This one Liam can tell is at least part chocolate lab if not full blooded. The newcomer isn’t as calm as the first and is very excited to see them, bounding over to try and get attention too.

Liam sees the moment Chris falls in love.

“It says here that these two came in together and if possible they should go to the same home,” Niall says, still reading the clipboard. He lifts some papers to see the info for the lab. “The other one is pure chocolate lab and he’s around two months old. They’re calling him Chip.”

“She’s so sweet,” Aly says, still petting Sunny through the fence.

Liam and Niall look at each other at the same time. They both know without saying anything that their plan to get just one pet has just changed to two.

Niall takes the clipboard with the information for the dogs and heads inside to the front counter. Aly and Chris are too engrossed in the dogs to notice him leaving. Liam walks over and kneels beside Aly so he can stick his hand through the fence. Sunny immediately leans into him and he’s surprised by how soft her fur is and finds himself falling a little bit in love too.

When Niall returns they have to usher a reluctant Aly and Chris back out to the car.

“Store the sadfaces you two, the shelter is going to get the spade and neutered for us, we’ll pick them up in a couple of days,” Niall tells the children, who perk up after that.

They don’t stop talking the whole ride home.

 

1)

Liam gets home two hours later than he was intending. He and the artist he was working with got on a real roll with a song they were working on and there was no way Liam could stop in the middle of it. By the time they got to a stopping point he was already an hour late and he still needed to stop by Louis and Zayn’s place where he’s been keeping his surprise for Niall.

The house is already overly warm from Niall cooking dinner. It’s always been one of Liam’s favorite things to come home to, especially since he knows that Niall always puts love into everything he cooks. Liam will never forget the first meal Niall fixed for all of them as one family.

Before he can go very far he has to stop and greet each of the dogs. Luna is well-behaved and waits for Liam to come to her, but Pippin comes rushing right up to him and tries to jump up. It’s a work in progress with him, but they were able to housebreak him fairly easily so Liam is thankful for small favors on that one.

Once the dogs are appeased he heads into the living room to hide his gift, but stops short in the doorway. Niall is curled up towards one end of the couch, one of their throws pulled over him and the tv still showing a replay of a football game. He looks so soft and sweet that Liam almost doesn’t want to wake him up and considers just curling up with him.

In the end though, his stomach wins out.

Liam walks over to the couch and sits on the little sliver of cushion beside Niall. He quickly slides his gift just under the couch before he tries to wake his husband. He brushes the fringe back and leans down to pepper kisses from Niall’s forehead down to his cheek.

“Wake up, love,” Liam murmurs, stroking Niall’s cheek softly.

Niall stirs slowly, eyelids fluttering a little before they slowly open. His sleepy frown shifts into a sleepy smile and he reaches up to brush his fingers along the feathers of Liam’s wing. Liam hums softly in response and spreads his wing a little to give Niall better access.

“Sorry I’m late,” Liam says as Niall seems to wake up a little more.

“Sokay,” Niall says, sitting up slowly. “Dinner’s in the kitchen.”

“Stay, I’ll get it.”

Niall doesn’t even try to protest and simply lays back as Liam gets up to go to the kitchen. On the stove he finds a homemade pizza (the first meal Niall ever fixed for them back when they were still dancing around each other) that’s been decorated with little hearts made out of ham and bacon. Liam’s heart swells with love; it’s the closest either of them will come to cheesy romantic gestures.

Liam plates up a small pile of pizza slices and grabs two beers from the fridge before he goes back to join Niall. They eat in a comfortable silence, watching the end of the football game Niall was watching before he fell asleep. The pizza is as delicious as always and the beer is somehow the perfect compliment. It doesn’t take them long to polish it all off.

“I have something for you,” Liam says after he returns with a second set of beers for them.

He sets the bottles down on the table and reaches under the couch for the gift hidden there. It’s perfectly wrapped (something he has to thank Louis for doing) in paper that’s got golf balls all over it. Niall’s eyes light up and he reaches out to gingerly take the gift.

Niall’s expression drops suddenly and he looks up at Liam. “We said we weren’t buying anything for each other this year.”

“Just open it,” Liam says softly.

Niall continues to frown, but his curiosity seems to get the better of him and he tears into the wrapping paper. Liam has always enjoyed watching Niall open presents. He’s not as meticulous as Harry, who will carefully try to lift the tape to not rip the paper, but he doesn’t toss the paper around like Louis does either.

But Liam’s favorite part is watching the way Niall’s face lights up. It doesn’t matter what the gift is, Niall is always happy to receive it, always appreciative.

Liam watches as Niall runs his fingers reverently over the scrapbook that he’s spent months putting together just for this moment. Niall looks up at him with bright eyes before he turns his attention back to the scrapbook.

“A decade of love,” Niall reads out. Louis gave Liam so much shit for the cheesy title, but the warm smile Niall sends him is worth it.

They spend some time flipping through the pages. There’s mementos from when they first started dating and other meaningful moments along the way including one of their wedding invitations. It’s not just about the two of them though, it’s got things with the kids too including one of Aly’s first adult feathers and a drawing Chris had done of them as a family when he was six.

Eventually Niall closes the scrapbook and pulls Liam into a short, sweet kiss. “Thank you.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”


End file.
